Worlds away
by hellbomb238
Summary: Runescape isn't the only world around. Rated T just in case. Rewriting earlier chapters just because.
1. History and Creation

A/N-Ok so I started this story earlier this year, disliked it, then started this again. 1st chapter rewritten.

DISCLAIMER-I own Runescape, then I woke up.

~99099~

The flag was held high as the last of their metal fire-breathing turtles stopped rumbling, as their last metal bird was no longer airborne, as their last ship sank. A moment of silence followed, people couldn't believe that this moment had actually arrived. The air was silent save for a few fires and a river that was flowing nearby, its water tainted by blood and oil. A warrior with destroyed armor sank to her knees with a clang. It broke the silence. A yell of victory, a sobbing man, smiling elders that lived to see the light of day again. They all cheered, for this moment would go down in history when they were at last free, free of the oppression, free from the fear of constant death, free from hell.

But this freedom was not easily earned however. Many died, mothers weeping for their lost children, children crying for lost parents. People crying for their lives that they were so violently ripped apart from. Many loved ones where taken away never to return, never to feel this freedom and the warmth of the daylight.

These strange people, dressed in robes, armor of varying colors, in royal suits, in poor rags, rejoiced.

Swords, bows, staffs, strange black sticks the shot fire, blades for varying lengths, where thrust into the air as they proclaimed victory over the strange men that had appeared from seemingly out of nowhere.

Life was never going to be the same.

But let's look at life before this great event.

Way before.

Nothing.

Then something. A glimmer of light. A spark in this immeasurable void.

Life. What was the meaning of it? Why was there life? Why is there life in all sorts of creatures?

For life to exist he would need a place.

The deity pondered on. There was no place to put the people he had plans for.

So there was only one possible solution.

Scooping up a handful of sand from the ground, he then covered the sand with his other hand and thought, about creations, about ideas, about love.

When he opened his hands there where two stones.. A pearly white stone. A stone to him, but a planet to us. He planted seeds, he dug rivers, and he made a utopia for his children. He turned his attention to its twin. This one, was obsidian, laced with streaks of red, a polar opposite of the white rock. But a rock nonetheless.

Then he took people from another world, a world that was already mature, already populated. And he gently placed them onto the first of the two rocks. But he didn't want them to suffer as much as the people on the mature planet did killing and burning away their lives with technology. No, he wanted them to stay as they were when he created their world, so he gave them something that would mean they didn't have a need for technology, magic. Magic was weaker than technology, but was more controllable. While seemingly harmless technology could be modified at a moment's glance into something deadly, magic could not be modified just as easily.

But as much as he loved them, he wouldn't spoil them, they had to work for themselves. So he limited the magic and infused them in stones. He had a group of humans work in alters to create these stones, and another group to mine the special stone that was used to create these...these...He stopped, and realized he would need a name for these magical stones.

"Runes" he thought.

This went on for a while, humans mined stones, and others made them into runes.

But humans needed companions, and being the only creature in existence was tireing. He needed variation.

He created a race that was more beautiful, wise, and nimble. But they lacked the ingenuity of humans.

He also created more human like creatures, short humans that had a love of the ground, had excellent skill in metalworking, but lacked the attitude of humans and where usually gruff. They also lacked height.

But when he created the former race, there was a design flaw, some of them loved height and were claustrophobic and stuck to the trees, they also hated being dirty and had higher standards of living. At first he tried to change them back into the usual gruff and ground-hugging twins. But he loved his children dearly and they were just like that. He had no desire to force them into something they were not born as. So he changed them into another race. Still a short, humanoid creature, but with the attitude of kings. They also had a love of the air, after living in trees; altitude was one thing they prized.

Overall he made many races, many forms, and many souls.

But revolt would shake the entire existence apart. The opposite rock lay abandoned, and left barren for all eternity. But life would have the last say, as even there, life would flourish. Although "flourish" is not the word I should be using. Life was hard there, a fact multiplied by their emotions. The people of the world where loving and caring. The people of the opposite world where cold, hard, and warlike. They fought for territory, food, and resources. Unlike the occupants of the world, the people of the opposite world did not have access to runes. So they created the one thing the deity was trying to not to create, technology. And with their ways of life, war machines where nothing out of the ordinary.

But they wanted revenge on the deity, for forgetting them. For abandoning them. They called themselves, Chaos. Or translated, people of war. One chaos stood above the rest, he called himself, Zemorelek, or as we know, Zamorak. God of Chaos.

The people of the Chaos declared war on the deity's original creation. Again, one person of the world stood above to lead the rest. Saradomin, God of Wisdom. They fought battles both on the world and the world of Chaos. The battle ended with a stalemate. And after the great battle, Saradomin named this world, Runescape, after the runes that this world revolved around. Chaos, battle-scarred and life pretty much hardened to live there, didn't look any worse. The world of Runescape however, was burnt to the ground, life clinging onto existence. Most of Runescape's fauna and flora grew back eventually, but there was one place where nothing would grow. A place north of a major settlement. Nothing would grow, and some humans brought back some soil from this area. Even out of this area, plants refused to grow in the tortured soil. This area remains barren today. And all hope has been given up to seed this land with life.

It has also been said that this place held the ghosts of Chaosian warriors. Living they where formidable warriors. Even in death, they were said to be able to kill mighty adventurers.

Today the connection with Chaos and our world has been cut off, separated for eternity. And it is this war that fueled our determination that technology will never find its place on this world.

"And so concludes our history lesson."

The teacher, back cracking as he stood up from the long talk, looked at the grandfather clock to his left.

"Alright pack up school's gonna end. Homework-" The class responded with a groan, "Fine, just a few pages this time then. Get outta 'ere."

As the class rose up from their seats, the light patter of rain began dropping from the sky. The light patter soon turned into a shower.

As clouds rumbled, a bolt of lightning struck close to where they were now. At least they were inside the building. Unlike the sorry souls that were forced to spar and run in this torrential downpour. They were the unlucky ones. But no one noticed the clouds starting to turn into a smooth ceiling. Not the regular stormy sky with bumps and holes, but dark clouds with smooth undersides covered the entire world. Then the clouds had red tinge to them, after a while the color came together and formed symbols. Symbols of Chaos. Symbols of Death.

Rain poured from the sky, the nearby stream usually just trickling was now a rushing torrent of water and mud.

The sky was dark enough to be confused with nighttime.

Lightning struck.

The universe is much bigger than one thinks it is.

~99099~

Please Review! If you find yourself interested, please post a review so I will know that you are.

PS: I know that Runescape's history is a bit different. This is not the OFFICIAL history of Runescape.

Please note that I will be screwing up Runescape's storyline a lot :)

PPS:I know what I'm doing with the story. I wont forget anything(mostly...)

2/2/10 NOTE-I will continue writing this story. At least to the second chapter.

12/2/10-Story ALMOST abandoned. But will continue.


	2. Chaos

The ground seemed to roar as the monsters where herded into the portals.

Where they led, nobody knows. All they knew was the portals where in junction with the dimensions itself. And who cared if a few (million as of now) pests where gone? Nobody liked them; insufficiently armored vehicles were torn apart as pests tried to get to the sweet smelling fuel that many machines where dependent on. Of course refineries where protected also. And ocean rigs, tankers, ect.

National soldiers and private mercenaries alike where once hired and sent to deal with the pests. Most of the time, all they would have to do was to kill and dispose of the pest that they would be called to exterminate.

No matter how fast or how much they tried to kill the legions of pest they would always return and in greater numbers than before. Finally they came to a conclusion, not to kill the pests, but to relocate them. Their top scientists painstakingly designed a teleport system. Where they led? No really cared about the destination, as long as the pests where gone.

And this is where the monsters appeared today, at the bottom of the copper mine, with natural fuel seeping out of hair cracks, pests attracted to this source of fuel. Of a course a mine isn't complete without lifts, abandoned pickaxes left by rushed workers, and mine carts.

Herding pests on the surface was hard enough, forcing them through numerous tunnels, was just pure...ahem…Chaos...

"Remind me, why the hell are we here," a male voice whispered.

"Go in, find out what's going on, place a few markers, report back, go home." said a female in a confident tone.

"Sure as god damn hell…can't be that easy." The man not-so-quietly said, his voice echoing down the passageway.

"At least we got a wide tunnel.

"Yes ma'am, I am thankful." He replied sarcastically.

The two shadowy silhouettes walked side by side in a fairly wide tunnel. Their footsteps crunched on the debris that was left behind by the workers. They followed the rails down the mine where the fuel was leaking. Another corner, another straight, this pattern repeated itself many times. After hours of walking, exhaustion was slowly bringing them to a halt. Rounding yet another corner, they discovered a junction for exchanging ores and empty cars. Of course it was complete with rations, water, a place for "business", a few benches, and a single light. It was also, thankfully, low on dust.

They looked around for a bit, silent, looking for pests that might be lurking around.

Satisfied, they climbed onto the platform, thinking a small break would do nicely.

The female sat down on the benches, and dropped both her weapon and her shield, relieved that she wasn't walking anymore. She took off her helmet and her gas/dust mask and goggles to reveal brown eyes and jet black hair, even more blackened due to the dust. She took out a cleaning cloth and wiped the dust off. She also cleaned her standard-issue weapon, her square shield, and her prized possession, her badge.

Rank was shown with how one had their name on a suit, cadets usually had their names sewn on, and privates usually had patches sewn on their suits, and so on and so forth. Apparently high ranked officials used their medals for name tags.

She blew off the grey ash like dust that covered the badge, revealing CPTN SASHA 15973.

CPTN…She had been so happy the day she was promoted and saw those letters on her then shiny badge. She had been shooting for the open captain position that had caught her attention weeks beforehand.

15973…Her family number. She sighed as she remembered her mother, whom looked just like her, although Sasha's attitude, quiet, observant, but impatient, her mother claimed that that had come from her father. A father she never knew.

A rush of running water directed her attention from the square shaped piece of metal towards her left. Her partner had just gotten out of the bathroom. He sighed, and opened a box next to the water tank. Inside where silver packages about the size of a one's palm. He took two out and joined her on the bench.

He held one out.

"Here, take it."

"Thanks…"

He was a new member and had just gotten out of boot camp. His name was sewn onto a patch that was then attached to his suit. Blonde hair, shorter than her, she had noticed that he had only signed up for this career because it "sounded cool at the time." The only piece of equipment he had on was a backpack field radio, the only way to communicate with the surface. Troy had been trained for surface missions, but had been signed up for underground scouting missions because of the dreaded budget cuts and the relative ease of the missions.

They both opened their package. A plain energy bar that smelled sort of stale was revealed. Of course it was the kind no one believed that this could revitalize them. After all, it was cheap.

Sasha took a bite and looked around the mine.

The first time they had dug a deep hole the ancestors where amazed at the soft caressing glow of the glowworms. The elders said it was beautiful. Of course machines that burned the natural fuel also spewed a chemical toxic to the glowworms. Now any cave with glow worms was protected, no matter how much the mining companies offered to pay.

And then, a high-pitched whistling noise. She closed her eyes and listened. Eyes where no good in a mine. There it was again! Right in front of her. She opened her eyes. There was a tunnel with some tracks that must have led to an ore vein.

"Probably the wind…" Troy said as he offered his opinion.

"Quiet" she hissed back as she closed her eyes once more. The wind had a much lower pitch. That meant…

"Sasha...?' he said, a little scared. And now not so brave.

"Quiet not now" She said impatiently.

"Sasha come on…!" Troy whispered, panicking.

She opened her eyes.

"Oh...damn." Sasha's blood ran cold. She was a veteran. With a few hundred successful pest round-ups under her belt, she saw everything there was to see in the field, and yet what she saw scared her.

From the tunnel in front of her, round balloons like…things…bounced towards them.

Both of their hearts started beating rapidly.

Then Troy almost had a heart attack.

In the center of the balloons, a single eye was visible.

"I- I-B-Bombs…" Sasha stuttered.

She counted an estimate.

"A- At least th-thirty" She whispered to her partner.

I-bombs, they were nasty. They got their name from the single eye in the middle of the head, and from their tendency to explode if they were damaged in any way. Unfortunately, they could detect the slightest rapid movement. Fortunately, if they didn't move rapidly, they could confuse what they think was moving, and the movement of their own bodies. I-bombs mainly depended on other pests to lead them to their prey. Luckily, they were also as deaf as they were stupid.

She had witnessed legions of pests march towards her. But most of the time she could shoot them from far away. And with every few hundred pests, she counted a few I-bombs.

But never has she seen so many I-bombs. And never can she imagine the amount of damage that could be done with thirty of them.

Sasha smelled a faint oily scent. And almost fainted. Not only could these I-bombs demolish them both and still have enough force to ignite the rest of the bombs. And then these had smooth skin. A sure sign that they were plump from feeding. On natural fuel.

And they was stuck.

But...then again, they were only scouts. They could report back to General's Headquarters and make it their problem.

"Troy."

"Troy…"

When he didn't respond, she risked a peek. His eyes where wide, his knuckles white, he was visibly shaking and looked ready to die.

She slowly reached for his radio. She silently thanked the gods for making I-bombs deaf.

"HQ, HQ, do you read me? This is team ST1147W, over."

"General's HQ over. Status report please."

"HQ this is ST1147W. We found a large cluster of I-bombs, anywhere from thirty to forty"

"ST1147W, do not engage them, there are still some teams near your sector and detonating them could kill them all, I repeat do no-"

"Team ST1147W, this is Communications Major Baxton speaking, repeat what you just said."

"Major, we have discovered a very large group of I-bombs. Anywhere from thirty to forty."

"Team ST1147W do not engage them but stand by, and place a marker. This is the moment we have been waiting for. Who is your commanding officer?"

"I am sir, Captain Sasha."

"Captain do you have any explosives with you?"

"Two remote detonating packs."

"Stand by captain." A click indicated that the major had ended the conversation.

And standby she did.

"Troy? You good?"

The private didn't reply. Not that she expected him to.

She sighed, trying to forget about the bouncing horrors.

Closing her eyes she heard the faint wind like noise the bombs made as they bounced around.

Crunch.

She frowned. Where I-bombs even capable of making this sound?

Crunch.

Unless the ceiling started falling.

Crunch.

She slowly covered her face with her hands. Peeking from between her fingers, she looked around for the mysterious noise.

A ragged figure limped out of a tunnel that she had overlooked. He had grey hair, an unshaven face, the tattered remains of a lab coat, if he walked in a room, she would've described him as a stereotypical mad scientist. The thing that separated him from a scientist was an old battle rifle he was clutching like his life depended on it.

He also seemed to be talking to himself. Either he was hallucinating, or going insane, he was talking like there was someone else in his conversation. And a man with a mind that can't decide on reality, and a rifle that probably works even now, is not a good combination.

"Gimme a day or two man…yeah…just there…..why not? It's not like if I know…see? Look at the fireworks!…." He rambled on and on about something Sasha couldn't understand. She then mentally hit herself. She was never going to try and understand an insane man ever again!

The I-Bombs took notice almost instantly, making their way to the ragged man, he too, noticed them. The bombs grew closer and closer to him, the man, out of madness or curiosity, stuck out his hand to feel them. He giggled as he gently pushed them backwards only for them to bounce back. Then the others joined in. Surrounding the man, at first he looked as though if he was having the time of his life. Pushing and lifting the bombs in the air he had fun. He then started insanely talking again.

"Hey! I remember! …remember….re-remember when we went to that carnival-fair thing?...a...AhaAHAHAAHAHA...that one game…you know, the one you shoot the balloon and get a prize!..I always win!"

He hefted his weapon and got ready to shoot.

Sasha knew there wasn't enough time to talk him out- There she was again, trying to reason with insanity-driven man.

She knew she only had one option, and that was to shout really loud to disorient him and shoot the man.

Standing up, and lifting her own weapon, she took aim and shot. The bullet whizzed into the man's left hand. He dropped his rife.

"Wh-What?" The man seemed to be free of the madness for a moment, only to be consumed by it once more.

He stood up, ignoring the pain that sped through his hand. For a moment, he seemed confused, but the confusion on his face was then replaced by anger, and the woman had caused him pain! Therefore, she must not like him! So that means he must not like her! The insanity was almost like a second personality approving and disapproving things at will. Satisfied with the decision, he picked up his rifle, and shot wildly in her general direction. Bullets whizzed by her head, and one connected with her leg. She tumbled down to the floor. The rest missed her.

The pool of blood was slowly growing, as her own injury leaked the red fluid, but she noticed that some was dripping from under the bench.

Sasha gasped, she had forgotten about Troy! She looked back at him, blood leaking out of every bullet hole. He was hit with the full barrage of the lead storm, with more holes in him than an old sock, he was most certainly, not going to be coming home. A spark caught her attention. The bullets not only went through Troy, it went straight through to the radio, their only lifeline underground.

The shooting stopped, but only momentarily, as he reloaded and started to shoot once more.

Out of all this excitement she forgot they were surrounded by I-bombs. Time seemed to slow down as he pulled the trigger of his weapon. In a split second she pulled out the shield from her back and positioned it in front of her. The first bullet missed, the second hit an I-bomb that was off in the corner, far enough that it didn't ignite the others, the third hit an I-bomb in the center dead-on.

The I-bomb exploded. And so did the next one. And the one after that. The man didn't even have time to react, he was incinerated in a heartbeat, the last pump of blood his heart was going to send through the body. Her ears popped as the pressure shot up in an instant. And the flaming and ever expanding wall of fire finally reached her spot.

And she resisted the force of the flames.

And in the first time in her life, she was praying.

To who? Her instincts said Zemorelek, the god of Chaos, but she felt as if she was praying to another god. A much higher god. Even she wondered.

~99099~

If you are interested, please leave a review!


	3. Voided pests

Ok it snowed today so I had some spare time to write this.

And there's some problems arising too. If you read the last chapter you're probably thinking..."What has this got to do with Runescape?"

Well...I want something different. Your usual RS story is probably a day in RS or just some random noob's rants. Or a written version of an event that happened in RS. Some RS stories however, are very well written and I read them over and over a lot. However one theme seems to reoccur and that is people getting sucked inside RS or some character being thrust out into the real world. I'm not saying that's the only stories around.

There are different stories but I have yet to find a story like the one I am writing right now.

(NOTE-If anyone finds a story that is much different than the ones you usually see, please PM me with a link.

And even if this story turns out to be a flop and everyone hates this story, I still want a change how the stories are written. Maybe people will think about writing farther than the game itself.

And last chapter you were thrust into a different world, maybe its a good idea to go back to the RS we know and (maybe) love.

DISCLAIMER-I don't own what I don't own.

***

Mark's eyes where drooping as he waited out the storm. Until he finally fell asleep. Inside his head, he was wishing for Chaos.

He was labeled a nerd, weirdo, and "mentally frighting."

Out of his class, no, the whole world of Runescape, only he wanted to go to Chaos. He wasn't frightened by the though of having to deal with metallic monsters that supposedly shot fire. Instead he wanted to meet the people. To see if anyone had changed. In Runescape, the warm-hearted population was tainted by greedy warlords. The peace was interrupted by bloodthirsty fiends, since Chaos was the opposite, could they have had the same effect? Could some people from Chaos have changed from the cold and warlike attitude to accepting and nice people? He thought so. He had hope.

Then a flash of lightning. He was awake in a second.

"At least the storms packing up..."

"Ey youngin'..."

He looked behind him.

There was Leonardo, the janitor.

"Hey Leo."

No one knew how old Leo was, even at his age, he was strong, you had to be strong in order to remove stains. Some say if you had problems with history, you should go to Leo.

"So eh...what are ye thinkin' about now?"

"History..."

"Ahh...history. When?"

"The beginning."

Leo smiled.

"Wot about the start?"

"Chaos"

"Chaos....Chaos... opposite of home eh? Look uh...it's getting' a bit dark, why doncha' ead' on home?"

"Alright then, see you"

"You too youngin'."

He walked out of the evening school. And got ready to walk home.

Mark's home was nothing much really. Just everything for himself. A bedroom and kitchen was all he needed. Until he saw a flier under the door about the void knights. They where calling out to all of the able and ready. A massive surge of monsters in the last few months.. Even with the highly trained knights, they where having trouble. Anyone who helped where given free room and board...

He was a fighter, until he got an injury that made him get bed rest for about two months. And when he came back, the fighting team already had their new star. He was forgotten about and he was forced to quit fighting. He was devastated, and he was homeless for about a week or so. Until he got enough money to buy a place for himself in Varrock. There he studied the thing that he used to despise so much. Until he found out his previously unknown fascination for the past. And he was reeled in. His life was about history.

He could still fight. Maybe he could be of some use. His part-time job at the general store was paying off. He had never counted his money. Only banked it. For the first time he withdrew all of his money. And was surprised. With a paycheck of just three hundred coins a day he worked for a few years getting a raise for working the holidays and weekends. He had enough money to buy the best armor there was.

_A few hours later._

Strapped on his back was a box which contained the best armor in existence, no need to wear it where it wasn't needed. He also bought a matching battleaxe and shield from nearby stores.

He bought a ticket for a ferry heading down river towards port Sarim.

When in port Sarim he saw a sign advertising their need of help in the outpost, he made his way to the boat reserved for fighters going to the outpost. He also saw many people boarding the boat. Sitting down near the window he heard some shouting.

"Sir, please get in your seat."

"But I HAD a seat, down under with no windows!"

"Sir get back in your seat NOW, or we will toss you overboard." The stewardess emphasized the word now.

The man groaned. He sat down next to Mark.

"Do you know how long you can last in open sea? If the boat goes down we go down too! Then there are sharks, sea snakes, and then there's the Leviathan...."

"Agoraphobic?"Mark asked.

"Wuzzat?"the man asked with his head between his hands.

"Agoraphobia, fear of open waters."

"Oh yeah...Names Tib, short for Tiberius.

"Mark, ex-arena team member, champion for two years straight...and such."

"Nice to meet ya"

"You too..."

Arriving there he saw a massive amount of people trying to get on the landers that ferried people to and from the island with the portals. He even saw some people with the same type of armor that he had.

He booked a room for himself and ate a small meal before heading out to the dock where the lander where.

He donned the armor he had bought only recently. While he put on the armor, it was like a blast from the past. He could imagine the battle arena that he had fought in so many times before. He held up his battleaxe and gave it a little swing. He smirked, satisfied.

***

"_FIRE!_"

All of the rangers unleashed their arrows simultaneously. There were explosions as the nitroglycerin tied to the heads of the arrows burst into flames and the warriors heaved their weapons and with a roar, killed monster after monster. Mark was having the time of his life. When he fought he usually fought with nothing but instinct, he was happy, not having to follow any rules. When the last portal where the monsters appeared was destroyed, a mental message flooded all of the minds of the fighters.

"Our day is done, all fighters report back to the landers."

He groaned as he stretched his tired muscles. The ride back to the outpost seemed to take an eternity. After making a stop to his room to take off his armor and cloths to take a quick bath, he headed down to the mess hall for dinner.

He waited in line for his dinner. Today they where serving bread rolls, salmon, raw cabbages, and a good mug of ale. He chose a seat alone, until Tib sat down next to him.

"So, ow's it going?" Tib started to munch on the bread rolls before switching to the salmon which he ate with vigor.

"Oh yeah, good. Been able to kill a lot today. A few ravagers tore down the whole fence...took a helluva lot of time to repair them all. Then during that time we had spinners healing the portals so that was bad too. But the worst... brawlers where everywhere...we had to kill one just to move a few feet."

"Damn...bad day uh'?."

"Bad last few months is more like it."

Tib laughed.

"Ain't it always?"

"Yup."

***

Can you see a similarity to a 2009 movie in here?

Ain't telling the movie.


	4. Deep under

Well...did you hear? I live in the Northern Virginia/D.C. metro area and the deity said-"LET THERE BE SNOW" And snow there was. Its still snowing and its a bit past noon. Two feet...Awesome. And OMG you have to see what I see! An accident concerning a school bus, McDonalds, Gamestop, a porta-potty, and snow. The school bus skidded on the snow, hit a McDonalds, pinwheeled into a Gamestop, and hit a porta-potty, all because of snow.

Runescape should have snow like this...

***

The Ashla Pest Organizers where the one of the most effective exterminators in the history. With successful pest roundups in seven of the thirteen continents, they had previously dominated the pest removal stock market, until it became government funded because it was so successful.

In the southern region, mines where common and the APO Southern HQ had just bought new mining equipment in the emergency of an underground pest alert. This included drills, shaped charges, and the star of the show, two CNC58 3000 ton bulldozers.

At forty two feet tall, eighty seven feet long, and fifty feet wide, this bulldozer has all the things bulldozers offer. A roomy cabin, suspension, even a place to sleep.

Every soldier, called exterminators, had customized equipment. The motto was "Work hard but work efficiently."All exterminators had to do was work for a minimum for seven years to pay off the equipment and they could keep the armor but not the weapon, for their own personal use. But most chose to stay in the group.

In the portable communications truck, Major Baxton was talking to one of the senior captains on scout in the mines. Call it whatever you like, to him it was just a hole a in the side of a canyon.

"Stand by captain."

Baxton was in a good mood.

Unfortunately for the communications officer who was just talking to them, when she got cut off by the major, her blood pressure went up as her face got redder and redder. Then she popped a few sleeping pills and she finally lost the red tinge. But she was still pissed off.

He checked a map of where each team was sent to scout.

Team ST1147R was in the deepest part of the tunnels.

He smiled.

He reached for the radio.

"All right I need all scout teams to report back to HQ."

Outside the technicians where setting up a frame around the entrance of the mine. His fool proof, brilliant, utterly flawless plan?

To set up charges at the end of the mine and blow the pests out into the portal over the entrance once it was activated. Also a few other portals where placed inside the mine just in case some pests survive. They would be dealt with using smaller explosives. The initial plan called for ten massive warheads. And some light duty mining charges. The major did some quick calculations in his head.

"Thirty to somewhere around forty...is about...what...five warheads?....No no no...More like six."

Using the I-bombs it was like a sixty percent off sale. One no one could resist. Good price.

He felt a shudder under his feet, and the looked outside, he saw smoke. The next moment the siren came on. A high-pitched blare that dug its way into everybody's head. He called out to lieutenant Ashton, who was in charge of the demolition teams.

"Lieutenant are all of the demo teams there?"

"Yes sir all of their warheads are still here too."

That meant a few unseen events have happened.

One-Someone or something caused a spark and hit explosive gases.

Two...Two...He didn't want to think about it.

Two-The I-bombs went off.

"Sergeant! Take over!"

Dodging rocks and boulders, he quickly made his way towards the mine.

Some teams where walking, some carried, some dragged, out of the mine. A quick medical tent was being erected for the injured. Baxton motioned the overseer in a "what the hell just happened here" gesture.

"Seer...What the hell just happened here?"

"Uh...Uh...We-well...um..sir...Uh there was...ah...sir...an..explosion sir..."

"Yes...I can see that."

"Well..um sir, we don't know what happened."

"Are all the teams accounted for?"

He almost dreaded the answer, but he had to know.

"No sir...um..A few of the teams are still inside."

"Damn..."

"Is that ceiling secure?"

"Our geo-experts say so."

Baxton went over to the heavy equipment operators.

"Get a few of the bulldozers and use them to clear the smoke"

In a mine, dust was a very annoying issue, and sometimes deadly. All of their bulldozers had modifications done. Any air that was sucked in through the radiator was then connected to the exhaust pipe, in other words a vacuum cleaner, with no filter. But they where strong. The dozer blades where detached and the bulldozers rumbled in the mine. When they reached the point where the ceiling was low enough for the bulldozer's massive intakes to cover the area, flexible hoses where attached to their exhaust pipes. Then power was added to the engine and the cooling turbines roared.

The air, smoke, dust, and just about anything that wasn't heavy or bolted down flew towards the bulldozer. During regular operations, the radiator isn't usually running this fast. In a few seconds the smoke was sucked into the bulldozers and out of the mine. Scouts quickly followed the map to where team ST1147W was sent to scout. Smaller bulldozers where sent to clear cave-ins and boulders and had the secondary effect of clearing the air with their smaller turbines.

Then bulldozer 8852 ran over something that made a crunching sound.

It was Captain Sasha's tactical shield, mangled, melted, and pockmarked with holes from the red-hot debris, but it was her shield all right. She was definitely near.

In what condition, no one knew.

***

This chapter seems to me like a "filler" chapter. Sorry if it didn't catch your interest, but there might be some story after this.

In Montana where I used to live, school didn't close just because of snow. Only blizzards. With 5+ feet. Yo Ho Ho and a pile of snow.


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